18 research outputs found

    Self-organizing criticality among Chinese cities

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    This dissertation employs the theory of self-organizing criticality (SOC) into the study of Chinese cities. SOC was proposed at the end of the 1980s to explain system complexity by combining both self-organizing and critical behaviors. SOC has been broadly used in explaining phenomena in physical and social sciences. However, few attempts have been made to connect urban studies with SOC because of the extreme complexity of urban phenomena. This study develops a generalized SOC to study Chinese cities at both the inter-urban and the intra-urban levels. At the inter-urban level, this study finds that the rank size distribution of Chinese cities has followed Zipf's law since 1984. In addition, the rank size dynamics of Chinese cities experienced a spatiotemporal shift. Before 1996, city rank increases in a few small- and middle-sized cities because of favorable economic policies offered by the central government. After 1996, a majority of the Chinese cities began to be involved in this rank size shuffling. Cities with increasing ranks present clustered distribution, mainly along the south and east coastal areas. Part of the reason is that the market economy mechanism has transcended policy factors in determining the city competitiveness. At the intra-urban level, the study shows that Shenzhen's urban physical development is currently facing physical environmental thresholds, shifting the development strategies spatiotemporally from fringe and isolated growth to fringe and infill growth. The resulted urban patches show power law relationship both in the area-perimeter distributions and the magnitude-frequency distributions. In summary, this research proves the applicability of the generalized SOC in urban studies. At both the inter-urban and the intra-urban levels, the Chinese cities present the characteristics of SOC. Given a stable condition of power law, shifts occur in the inside dynamics of China's urban system and Shenzhen city. This study is one of the few empirical urban studies based on SOC. The study contributes to the literature on SOC theory and provides theoretical breakthroughs in studying Chinese cities. Finally, this study has potential implications on urban policies and urban development strategies

    ESSE 2017. Proceedings of the International Conference on Environmental Science and Sustainable Energy

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    Environmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physical-, biological-, and information sciences to study and solve environmental problems. ESSE - The International Conference on Environmental Science and Sustainable Energy provides a platform for experts, professionals, and researchers to share updated information and stimulate the communication with each other. In 2017 it was held in Suzhou, China June 23-25, 2017

    Climate change, water risks and urban responses in the Pearl River Delta, China

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    Currently, concerns are increasing that climate change may intensify natural disasters, like droughts, floods and storms which pose risks to human society, especially at the coastal urban area. This thesis studies climate change, water shortage and flood risks as well as human response measures in the highly urbanized Pearl River Delta (PRD) area in South China. Analysis on climate change in the PRD area is based on existing datasets and model projections, with an integration of literature results. Findings indicate significant climate change in both the past and future of the area, with a trend of increasing mean temperature, fluctuating precipitation, rising sea level and increasing typhoon intensity as well as the frequency of extreme weather events. In particular, the annual mean temperature in the PRD area is likely to rise by around 3℃ and precipitation to increase slightly but with greater fluctuations by 2100, while the sea level is projected to rise with an annual rate of 0.33cm to 1cm in this century. Climate change is likely to increase rainfall variability, drought intensity and duration, and damages on water-related infrastructure by extreme weather events, which all increasingly threaten the local freshwater availability. The water supply situation is becoming more complicated along with the population growth, economic development and difficulties in response/management. Hence, ensuring sufficient freshwater availability is one of the major water management challenges for all the PRD cities. Taking Hong Kong as a case study, this thesis highlights six interrelated risks within the context of climate change, namely: drought, rainstorm/flood events, sea-level rise, water pollution, social management and policy gaps. It suggests that for a sustainable future, Hong Kong needs to invest in improving water self-sufficiency, diversify water sources and conduct aggressive public awareness to increase individual adaptation to predicted climate change impacts. Flood implications of climate change trends are pronounced in most of the cities in PRD as well. The frequency and intensity of extreme weather and climate events have assumed significant change, together with continuing development in flood-prone areas, which increase both the scale and degree of urban flood risk. Further estimation was made on the flood risk in the 11 cities of PRD area from both aspects of the probability of a flood occurrence and the vulnerability of the cities. The results suggest that the exposure and sensitivity of Hong Kong, Macao, Shenzhen and Guangzhou are very high because of highly exposed populations and assets located in lowland areas. However, the potential vulnerability and risk is low due to high adaptive capacities in both hard and soft flood-control measures. A novel framework on flood responses is proposed to identify vulnerable links and response strategies in different phases of a flood event. It further suggests that the flood risks can be reduced by developing an integrated climate response strategy, releasing accurate early warning and action guidance, sharing flood related information to the public and applying the advantages of social network analysis. Further, an agent-based model is developed as an instrument to simulate the process by which individual households optimize benefits through flood response investment and damage control. The model implements a subjective response framework in which households appraise inundation scenarios according to warnings, and decide whether to invest in mitigation measures to reduce potential inundation damages. Households may have variant flood response preferences and activities but they all require investments which are consequently considered as part of the final flood losses. A case study was carried out in the Ng Tung River basin, an urbanized watershed in Northern Hong Kong. First results underline that in-time, accurate and wide-covered flood warning plays a significant role in reducing flood losses. And earlier investments in responding measures are more efficient than late activities. This dynamic agent-based modeling approach finally demonstrates its capacity to analyze the interactions between flood inundation and households responses. Overall, findings of this study help understand the level of climate change impacts and vulnerability in water domain, which are vital to gauge the cities’ risks and corresponding responses and therefore inform decisions about how best to deal with emerging climate-related water risks like drought and flood

    Air Quality and Source Apportionment

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    Atmospheric particulate matter (PM) is known to have far-ranging impacts on human health through to climate forcing. The characterization of emission sources and the quantification of specific source impacts to PM concentrations significantly enhance our understanding of, and our ability to, eventually predicting the fate and transport of atmospheric PM and its associated impacts on humans and the environment. Recent advances in source apportionment applications have contributed unique combinations of chemical and numerical techniques for determining the contributions of specific sources, including diesel exhaust and biomass burning. These advances also identify and help characterize the contributions of previously uncharacterized sources. Numerical modeling has also enabled estimations of contributions of emission sources to atmospherically processed PM in urban and rural regions. Investigation into the emissions sources driving air quality is currently of concern across the globe. This Special Issue offers studies at the intersection of air quality and source apportionment for study areas in China, Germany, Iceland, Mexico, and the United States. Studies cover diverse methods for chemical characterization and modeling of the impact of different emission sources on air quality

    Assessing the social sustainability of Chinese urban neigbourhoods: a case study of Shenzhen

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    There is an increasing concern arising from China’s recent urban growth in terms of sustainability from environmental, economic and social perspectives. Huge numbers of new Chinese urban neighbourhoods have been built during the past 20 years with great spatial and social changes in this process compared with the past. However, little attention has been paid to assess the planning and development of these new neighbourhoods against social sustainable criterion. This research aims to evaluate the social sustainability of new Chinese neighbourhoods and discuss its association with patterns of urban form and related planning processes. A new conceptual framework of social sustainability was developed from the relevant sustainable research based upon the Western experiences and adapted to the Chinese urban context. It included three layers, resident’s basic needs, inner social networks and the entire community development for which detailed indicators could be generated as the basis for empirical social sustainability assessments. An embedded case study methodology was applied to Shenzhen, a new megacity rising from China’s rapid urbanisation process. The methodology consisted of two-phase case studies and utilised multiple survey methods. The city-level focused on understanding the macro-context policies related to neighbourhood development process and the general spatial characteristics of urban form, in which typical patterns could be identified for neighbourhood case selection. Then neighbourhood-level case studies in the Houhai-Dengliang area were used to appraise their levels of social sustainability. The analysis suggests that there is nexus between urban form and social sustainability, with the recently emerging highly-segmented and over-intensified developments being the least socially sustainable form. Defects in the current neighbourhood development mechanisms are further identified based on the clear evidence. The research recommends that the ‘site scale’ and ‘density’ needs to be effectively controlled for new neighbourhoods, within medium ranges, if the best level of social sustainability are to be achieved. For many existing neighbourhoods, evidence also indicates that adopting a collaborative planning approach can be a pathway towards a more socially sustainable development

    Between Flexibility and Reliability

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    The aim of this research is to provide an outline to address questions with regard to the transformation of planning in China that has occurred after the 1980s. The research is using “planning evolution” as the main research skeleton. The starting point is to investigate to what extent Chinese urban planning has developed after the opening up and other reforms under the state-led and market-driven modes of Chinese reformation, and to investigate how the different modes and various actors have influenced urban planning, based on the investigation of the respective political and economic changes within the initial reformation in general, and planning in particular. In recent years, China has undeniably undergone a dramatic process of urban growth and transformation. Apart from its speed and scope, it is less recognized that these processes are confronting the Chinese planning institutions with new and unexpected demands almost on a daily basis. In reference to the increasing importance of private investments and developments within the Chinese urbanization process, a new balance between public planning and private developments, and between top-down and bottom-up approaches is required to be able to generate both a reliable and responsible framework for long-term urban development and a flexible system of implementation that meets the needs of changing conditions and new demands. Flexibility and reliability become the new demands for planning practice. Based on the theory of planning culture, planning traditions, concepts, systems and decision-making processes are always related to the cultural context and cultural background of the people and societies involved. Investigating the contemporary urban transformation and urban development processes in China can allow us to outline the new planning culture of contemporary China in relation to its historical roots and traditional characteristics in a long term framework. I argue that the changing role of urban planning is strongly embedded in the political, economic, and social domains and is a part of cultural innovation. The research opens a general debate on the circumstances of the contemporary Chinese transformation after the 1980s. After introducing the idea of planning culture and elaborating to what extent the idea of planning culture is applied in this research, I argue that the “soft” characteristics of planning emphasized by the idea of planning culture are crucial to understand Chinese planning evolution. The idea of planning culture is applied to build up the theoretical framework needed in order to approach the research subject: the contemporary Chinese transformation, based on a systematic structure. Overall, this research states the following. 1). The reversal of Chinese policies in 1978 and the opening up of the country to foreign investments and technology were taking up the job that had been left unfinished in 1949. The momentum is regarded as a part of the long-term evolution of Chinese modernization, for which the term of “critical-modernity” is introduced, situating the changes within the broader context of the globalization. It cannot be disconnected from the roots of Chinese history and tradition and as such is an alternative to Western paradigms. 2). The dissection of the specific Chinese historical evolution results in a sequence of layered modes of hybrid development. 3) Situating the political-economic momentum of the 80s in a longer time span and exploring it beyond the political status of the time by making the contextual linkage to the cultural and traditional consensus of Chinese history, it is seen as a “cultural turn” of Chinese society. 4). This study applies the idea of “planning culture”—to compare different periods in one country and to analyze the changes that have taken place with regard to both the planning system and the cultural context; and to approach urban planning transitions from political, social, and economic aspects by investigating the conditions, approaches, and results of current spatial planning in China. According to the application of the idea of planning culture as a systematic framework, the research comprises three major research themes: the transformation of society, the transformation of the planning system and the implementation of planning in practice. The Transformation of the Society comprises two parts. The first reviews the philosophical roots of the Chinese norm and value system and the second part introduces the contextual background of the emerged evolution of Chinese modernization. The purpose is on the one hand to anchor the contemporary Chinese transformation within the Chinese context, and on the other hand to argue that the transformation of contemporary China in the 1980s is a new turn that is part of the evolution of modernization. The Transformation of the Planning System offers the specific information about the transformation that took place in the 1980s, in particular in relation to the reforms initiated by the central government. The focus is in on the re-modification of the urban planning system after 1978; special attention is given to the political structure, planning organization, and plan forms. It is the analysis of the top–down system. The Implementation of Planning System in Practice zooms further in on the micro-scale of planning evolution by analyzing the planning implementation in practice in one of the fastest growing cities of the country: Shenzhen, located in the Pearl River Delta, which can be regarded as an almost newly constructed city with approximately 300.000 inhabitants in 1980 and reaching 10.47 million in 2011. During a relatively short period of development the degree of acceleration and the scope of an entirely unexpected growth forced local planning authorities to constantly readapt to changing conditions and new demands. In this framework, different planning documents and the process of decision-making are analyzed, with special attention to the coordination and fine-tuning between planning intervention and planning implementation. These three clusters of research themes serve to answer a series of research questions respectively. The main research question is: How does urban planning in contemporary China face the challenges of the emergent urban evolution within the current world society? This research argues that planning strategies have to be developed, on the one hand under the circumstances of inevitably increasing uncertainties in China society generating the flexibility for new and unexpected developments, and on the other hand to confront the unpredictability and uncertainty of initiatives from diverse public and private actors by generating and building up a reliable framework for sustainable long-term developments. Planning embodiment (ideology, aim, system etc.) must be understood and used not only for political-economical interventions but, furthermore, as a spatial agent in order to mediate the changing confrontations of socio– spatial demands embedded in the cultural domain, instead of being used only as a top–down dominating intervention tool. China enters a critical era of modernity, a society in which to retrieve the socio-spatial meaning for people is a much more powerful force than only focusing on economic success and political stability. This reflection shall be based on the revival of Chinese traditions and values and the re-evaluation of those values in a systematical manner. However, in comparison with drawing a concrete conclusion, this study’s intention is to inspire reflection, to provoke further debate and to disclose and dissect the context of Chinese planning culture. It is by the same consideration that I found the idea of planning culture a useful and valuable framework to access urban development and planning evolution in non-Occidental countries. The “soft” core of planning culture has the same essential cultural value everywhere, and for countries like China who share the similar hybridity of evolutional history, the processes of industrialization, urbanization, decolonization, Westernization, post-industrialization and globalization are affecting the country not in a linear–subsequent manner, but on different layers simultaneously and sometimes with contradicting demands. Being embedded in this unique Chinese political–socio–economic environment, urban planning is used by the state as a powerful instrument providing a vision for the country’s future in the transitional process between the rules of both extreme modes of top-down and bottom-up approaches, balanced by involving the governmental and public sectors simultaneously. I am convinced that the idea of planning culture can trigger a new wave of discourse leading to a completely new insight in and understanding of cultural differences, not only in an abstract sense for Chinese culture but also in general for everybody whose live is strongly influenced by planning decisions and whose daily activities are interactively incorporated in the socio-spatial domain

    Between Flexibility and Reliability:

    Get PDF
    The aim of this research is to provide an outline to address questions with regard to the transformation of planning in China that has occurred after the 1980s. The research is using “planning evolution” as the main research skeleton. The starting point is to investigate to what extent Chinese urban planning has developed after the opening up and other reforms under the state-led and market-driven modes of Chinese reformation, and to investigate how the different modes and various actors have influenced urban planning, based on the investigation of the respective political and economic changes within the initial reformation in general, and planning in particular. In recent years, China has undeniably undergone a dramatic process of urban growth and transformation. Apart from its speed and scope, it is less recognized that these processes are confronting the Chinese planning institutions with new and unexpected demands almost on a daily basis. In reference to the increasing importance of private investments and developments within the Chinese urbanization process, a new balance between public planning and private developments, and between top-down and bottom-up approaches is required to be able to generate both a reliable and responsible framework for long-term urban development and a flexible system of implementation that meets the needs of changing conditions and new demands. Flexibility and reliability become the new demands for planning practice. Based on the theory of planning culture, planning traditions, concepts, systems and decision-making processes are always related to the cultural context and cultural background of the people and societies involved. Investigating the contemporary urban transformation and urban development processes in China can allow us to outline the new planning culture of contemporary China in relation to its historical roots and traditional characteristics in a long term framework. I argue that the changing role of urban planning is strongly embedded in the political, economic, and social domains and is a part of cultural innovation. The research opens a general debate on the circumstances of the contemporary Chinese transformation after the 1980s. After introducing the idea of planning culture and elaborating to what extent the idea of planning culture is applied in this research, I argue that the “soft” characteristics of planning emphasized by the idea of planning culture are crucial to understand Chinese planning evolution. The idea of planning culture is applied to build up the theoretical framework needed in order to approach the research subject: the contemporary Chinese transformation, based on a systematic structure. Overall, this research states the following. 1). The reversal of Chinese policies in 1978 and the opening up of the country to foreign investments and technology were taking up the job that had been left unfinished in 1949. The momentum is regarded as a part of the long-term evolution of Chinese modernization, for which the term of “critical-modernity” is introduced, situating the changes within the broader context of the globalization. It cannot be disconnected from the roots of Chinese history and tradition and as such is an alternative to Western paradigms. 2). The dissection of the specific Chinese historical evolution results in a sequence of layered modes of hybrid development. 3) Situating the political-economic momentum of the 80s in a longer time span and exploring it beyond the political status of the time by making the contextual linkage to the cultural and traditional consensus of Chinese history, it is seen as a “cultural turn” of Chinese society. 4). This study applies the idea of “planning culture”—to compare different periods in one country and to analyze the changes that have taken place with regard to both the planning system and the cultural context; and to approach urban planning transitions from political, social, and economic aspects by investigating the conditions, approaches, and results of current spatial planning in China. According to the application of the idea of planning culture as a systematic framework, the research comprises three major research themes: the transformation of society, the transformation of the planning system and the implementation of planning in practice. The Transformation of the Society comprises two parts. The first reviews the philosophical roots of the Chinese norm and value system and the second part introduces the contextual background of the emerged evolution of Chinese modernization. The purpose is on the one hand to anchor the contemporary Chinese transformation within the Chinese context, and on the other hand to argue that the transformation of contemporary China in the 1980s is a new turn that is part of the evolution of modernization. The Transformation of the Planning System offers the specific information about the transformation that took place in the 1980s, in particular in relation to the reforms initiated by the central government. The focus is in on the re-modification of the urban planning system after 1978; special attention is given to the political structure, planning organization, and plan forms. It is the analysis of the top–down system. The Implementation of Planning System in Practice zooms further in on the micro-scale of planning evolution by analyzing the planning implementation in practice in one of the fastest growing cities of the country: Shenzhen, located in the Pearl River Delta, which can be regarded as an almost newly constructed city with approximately 300.000 inhabitants in 1980 and reaching 10.47 million in 2011. During a relatively short period of development the degree of acceleration and the scope of an entirely unexpected growth forced local planning authorities to constantly readapt to changing conditions and new demands. In this framework, different planning documents and the process of decision-making are analyzed, with special attention to the coordination and fine-tuning between planning intervention and planning implementation. These three clusters of research themes serve to answer a series of research questions respectively. The main research question is: How does urban planning in contemporary China face the challenges of the emergent urban evolution within the current world society? This research argues that planning strategies have to be developed, on the one hand under the circumstances of inevitably increasing uncertainties in China society generating the flexibility for new and unexpected developments, and on the other hand to confront the unpredictability and uncertainty of initiatives from diverse public and private actors by generating and building up a reliable framework for sustainable long-term developments. Planning embodiment (ideology, aim, system etc.) must be understood and used not only for political-economical interventions but, furthermore, as a spatial agent in order to mediate the changing confrontations of socio– spatial demands embedded in the cultural domain, instead of being used only as a top–down dominating intervention tool. China enters a critical era of modernity, a society in which to retrieve the socio-spatial meaning for people is a much more powerful force than only focusing on economic success and political stability. This reflection shall be based on the revival of Chinese traditions and values and the re-evaluation of those values in a systematical manner. However, in comparison with drawing a concrete conclusion, this study’s intention is to inspire reflection, to provoke further debate and to disclose and dissect the context of Chinese planning culture. It is by the same consideration that I found the idea of planning culture a useful and valuable framework to access urban development and planning evolution in non-Occidental countries. The “soft” core of planning culture has the same essential cultural value everywhere, and for countries like China who share the similar hybridity of evolutional history, the processes of industrialization, urbanization, decolonization, Westernization, post-industrialization and globalization are affecting the country not in a linear–subsequent manner, but on different layers simultaneously and sometimes with contradicting demands. Being embedded in this unique Chinese political–socio–economic environment, urban planning is used by the state as a powerful instrument providing a vision for the country’s future in the transitional process between the rules of both extreme modes of top-down and bottom-up approaches, balanced by involving the governmental and public sectors simultaneously. I am convinced that the idea of planning culture can trigger a new wave of discourse leading to a completely new insight in and understanding of cultural differences, not only in an abstract sense for Chinese culture but also in general for everybody whose live is strongly influenced by planning decisions and whose daily activities are interactively incorporated in the socio-spatial domain. &nbsp

    Between Flexibility and Reliability:

    Get PDF
    The aim of this research is to provide an outline to address questions with regard to the transformation of planning in China that has occurred after the 1980s. The research is using “planning evolution” as the main research skeleton. The starting point is to investigate to what extent Chinese urban planning has developed after the opening up and other reforms under the state-led and market-driven modes of Chinese reformation, and to investigate how the different modes and various actors have influenced urban planning, based on the investigation of the respective political and economic changes within the initial reformation in general, and planning in particular. In recent years, China has undeniably undergone a dramatic process of urban growth and transformation. Apart from its speed and scope, it is less recognized that these processes are confronting the Chinese planning institutions with new and unexpected demands almost on a daily basis. In reference to the increasing importance of private investments and developments within the Chinese urbanization process, a new balance between public planning and private developments, and between top-down and bottom-up approaches is required to be able to generate both a reliable and responsible framework for long-term urban development and a flexible system of implementation that meets the needs of changing conditions and new demands. Flexibility and reliability become the new demands for planning practice. Based on the theory of planning culture, planning traditions, concepts, systems and decision-making processes are always related to the cultural context and cultural background of the people and societies involved. Investigating the contemporary urban transformation and urban development processes in China can allow us to outline the new planning culture of contemporary China in relation to its historical roots and traditional characteristics in a long term framework. I argue that the changing role of urban planning is strongly embedded in the political, economic, and social domains and is a part of cultural innovation. The research opens a general debate on the circumstances of the contemporary Chinese transformation after the 1980s. After introducing the idea of planning culture and elaborating to what extent the idea of planning culture is applied in this research, I argue that the “soft” characteristics of planning emphasized by the idea of planning culture are crucial to understand Chinese planning evolution. The idea of planning culture is applied to build up the theoretical framework needed in order to approach the research subject: the contemporary Chinese transformation, based on a systematic structure. Overall, this research states the following. 1). The reversal of Chinese policies in 1978 and the opening up of the country to foreign investments and technology were taking up the job that had been left unfinished in 1949. The momentum is regarded as a part of the long-term evolution of Chinese modernization, for which the term of “critical-modernity” is introduced, situating the changes within the broader context of the globalization. It cannot be disconnected from the roots of Chinese history and tradition and as such is an alternative to Western paradigms. 2). The dissection of the specific Chinese historical evolution results in a sequence of layered modes of hybrid development. 3) Situating the political-economic momentum of the 80s in a longer time span and exploring it beyond the political status of the time by making the contextual linkage to the cultural and traditional consensus of Chinese history, it is seen as a “cultural turn” of Chinese society. 4). This study applies the idea of “planning culture”—to compare different periods in one country and to analyze the changes that have taken place with regard to both the planning system and the cultural context; and to approach urban planning transitions from political, social, and economic aspects by investigating the conditions, approaches, and results of current spatial planning in China. According to the application of the idea of planning culture as a systematic framework, the research comprises three major research themes: the transformation of society, the transformation of the planning system and the implementation of planning in practice. The Transformation of the Society comprises two parts. The first reviews the philosophical roots of the Chinese norm and value system and the second part introduces the contextual background of the emerged evolution of Chinese modernization. The purpose is on the one hand to anchor the contemporary Chinese transformation within the Chinese context, and on the other hand to argue that the transformation of contemporary China in the 1980s is a new turn that is part of the evolution of modernization. The Transformation of the Planning System offers the specific information about the transformation that took place in the 1980s, in particular in relation to the reforms initiated by the central government. The focus is in on the re-modification of the urban planning system after 1978; special attention is given to the political structure, planning organization, and plan forms. It is the analysis of the top–down system. The Implementation of Planning System in Practice zooms further in on the micro-scale of planning evolution by analyzing the planning implementation in practice in one of the fastest growing cities of the country: Shenzhen, located in the Pearl River Delta, which can be regarded as an almost newly constructed city with approximately 300.000 inhabitants in 1980 and reaching 10.47 million in 2011. During a relatively short period of development the degree of acceleration and the scope of an entirely unexpected growth forced local planning authorities to constantly readapt to changing conditions and new demands. In this framework, different planning documents and the process of decision-making are analyzed, with special attention to the coordination and fine-tuning between planning intervention and planning implementation. These three clusters of research themes serve to answer a series of research questions respectively. The main research question is: How does urban planning in contemporary China face the challenges of the emergent urban evolution within the current world society? This research argues that planning strategies have to be developed, on the one hand under the circumstances of inevitably increasing uncertainties in China society generating the flexibility for new and unexpected developments, and on the other hand to confront the unpredictability and uncertainty of initiatives from diverse public and private actors by generating and building up a reliable framework for sustainable long-term developments. Planning embodiment (ideology, aim, system etc.) must be understood and used not only for political-economical interventions but, furthermore, as a spatial agent in order to mediate the changing confrontations of socio– spatial demands embedded in the cultural domain, instead of being used only as a top–down dominating intervention tool. China enters a critical era of modernity, a society in which to retrieve the socio-spatial meaning for people is a much more powerful force than only focusing on economic success and political stability. This reflection shall be based on the revival of Chinese traditions and values and the re-evaluation of those values in a systematical manner. However, in comparison with drawing a concrete conclusion, this study’s intention is to inspire reflection, to provoke further debate and to disclose and dissect the context of Chinese planning culture. It is by the same consideration that I found the idea of planning culture a useful and valuable framework to access urban development and planning evolution in non-Occidental countries. The “soft” core of planning culture has the same essential cultural value everywhere, and for countries like China who share the similar hybridity of evolutional history, the processes of industrialization, urbanization, decolonization, Westernization, post-industrialization and globalization are affecting the country not in a linear–subsequent manner, but on different layers simultaneously and sometimes with contradicting demands. Being embedded in this unique Chinese political–socio–economic environment, urban planning is used by the state as a powerful instrument providing a vision for the country’s future in the transitional process between the rules of both extreme modes of top-down and bottom-up approaches, balanced by involving the governmental and public sectors simultaneously. I am convinced that the idea of planning culture can trigger a new wave of discourse leading to a completely new insight in and understanding of cultural differences, not only in an abstract sense for Chinese culture but also in general for everybody whose live is strongly influenced by planning decisions and whose daily activities are interactively incorporated in the socio-spatial domain. &nbsp

    State of the Art and Future Perspectives in Smart and Sustainable Urban Development

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    This book contributes to the conceptual and practical knowledge pools in order to improve the research and practice on smart and sustainable urban development by presenting an informed understanding of the subject to scholars, policymakers, and practitioners. This book presents contributions—in the form of research articles, literature reviews, case reports, and short communications—offering insights into the smart and sustainable urban development by conducting in-depth conceptual debates, detailed case study descriptions, thorough empirical investigations, systematic literature reviews, or forecasting analyses. This way, the book forms a repository of relevant information, material, and knowledge to support research, policymaking, practice, and the transferability of experiences to address urbanization and other planetary challenges
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